Is Taoisms conception of the good more reasonable than that of Socrates

The two philosophies possess similarities and differences in their concepts. They both agree that for someone to be happy they have to work on their well-being as opposed to forcing things outside of themselves to work out. Socrates focuses on the development of the self as a human being with purposes and reason to live for while Taoism shows that for the better good, people have to primarily obey the supreme being who has it all and this leads to a happy life. Taoism critically teaches that for a good life you should live freely, flow by it and accept that our nature to life is very different from others. According to this principle of Taoism, the main focus is staying in peace with the supernatural being, Tao, who is regarded as a source of the universe while in Socrates principle, the central goal is to take good care of the soul, gain wisdom and knowledge of the self.

To him, the richest human being is he who is content with the least he possesses for the content is the wealth of nature. This could accord harmony to oneself and with other people and hence happy and good life. Both Taoism and Socrates philosophies agree on self-development. Socrates believed this could be achieved by making friends. He projected that this could bring the community together as well as making it develop progressively for good. Socrates views well as the most important possession in the community (Moi 19). He questioned on public figures and those in authority on their continued vice engagement and hypocritical nature who rarely brought good to the common people. Taoism focuses on simple life allowing nature to take its course so that the Taoists never disobey Tao and in return remain in peace with him.

Despite the fact that their beliefs lead opinions which arise from experiences of people, they have made conception to good exclusively well. One certain thing in these two philosophies is that death is sure for all human beings. Taoism calls for living humbly which helps people to live their life fully without being affected by misfortunes which are believed to come through unworthy kind of life. According to Taoist teaching, no one is perfect and therefore keeping all the principles as commanded becomes a difficulty. Thus there is call for daily meditation to keep the teachings of Tao. Taoists work hard to remain harmonious with Tao and make life balanced. There is also call for moderation of whatever someone does and showing empathy by living with other people well and focusing on helping each other for good.

Taoism principle argues that expectations are not necessary for one’s life since they assume a lot which never comes to pass. To solve this assumption, life should be lived here and now to fully achieve better results. If you can’t live well now with an expectation of better life tomorrow, this expectation will never come to pass. Moreover, Taoism teaches that the best teacher is oneself. There is need to periodically learn, meditate and remain vigilant to knowledge acquisition and at the end, life becomes purposeful. Our actions to good should be purposed for peace creation, acceptance of our life and happiness. Socrates as well makes it clear we should at least learn about what surrounds us and accept that we can never know everything.

This is a critical call for this fact from Socrates was because of the fact that we have a dynamic world where changes are inevitable. Socrates himself said that he was wisest because for sure he knew that he knows nothing. This is an extension of Taoists believe that all knowledge is owned only by their creator Tao and no other individual has the capacity to know everything. He hammered on the need to know the reason for ones living and work hard to making that life count. He called for the search for knowledge and wisdom in each tackle. To him, this could make a lot of success since the brain has no restriction to learning. But one fact he couldn’t deny was that no one could be totally wise as agreed by the Taoism that the wisest was only Tao whose wisdom was above reach by normal human beings hence the respect accorded to him.

Socrates focuses much on the well being of the society and development of oneself which in the end translates to uniform success in the large society. Taoism limits the common human being to effectively exercise their freedom in virtues development which is essential for the goodness of the society. This favors the Socrates philosophy since Socrates argued that every human being should be able to live a free life. The conception of good should not be reduced to the wellbeing of oneself but also the entire society and as a result. In summary, based on the above evaluation its evident that the concept of Taoism is not directly more reasonable than that of Socrates. Socrates focuses soul part which encompasses the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom.